


Snowed In

by endlessnightlock (Endlessnightlock)



Series: One Night Stands (aka One-Shot Collection) [15]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Eve, F/M, Getting to Know Each Other, I guess there's nothing else to do but huddle under a shared blanket, Not too Christmasy though, Oh look, Snowed In, That would be simply terrible lol, The power went out and it's freezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlessnightlock/pseuds/endlessnightlock
Summary: Katniss is snowed in with Peeta on Christmas Eve after their planned ride home with Gale is cancelled due to the weather.Who knows- maybe they’ll finally talk to each other now.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Series: One Night Stands (aka One-Shot Collection) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001196
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	Snowed In

Katniss let out a loud sigh before she could stop herself. She knew the sound was rude, but the discomfort in the room was thick like pea soup already, and she’d never been good at hiding her feelings in the first place. 

From her chosen corner of the living room, she surveyed her houseguest. Peeta grimaced as he adjusted his leg, propped up on her coffee table with a magazine underneath his foot to protect the surface. Over the top of his curly blonde head and out through her living room window, near white-out conditions left nothing but a blur of snow to be seen. She couldn’t even make out the streetlamp on the corner.

Of course, she had to get snowed in at her tiny apartment on Christmas Eve with Peeta Mellark of all people. 

Just a few short years ago, Katniss would’ve thanked her lucky stars for the opportunity to be alone with him. Her teenage crush on him had been long and miserable and left her feeling frustrated for most of her time at Coriolanus F. Snow Senior High. He would send fleeting glances her way in the hall or class. But did he ever try something crazy like actually speaking to her? No, he did not.

But time takes away all those unrequited feelings, Katniss reasoned with herself. That lingering nervous feeling knowing Peeta was only ten feet away from her? Pure muscle memory.

Those butterflies in her stomach meant nothing.

“Do you need my help?” she asked when he wouldn’t stop grunting, bent over at the waist and trying to reach his boot the way he was. 

“Maybe,” Peeta admitted, glancing at her and then back down at his foot. “I can’t quite reach- I can’t get my knee to move at all.”

Katniss pushed off the wall, making her way towards him to help.

She supposed it was sort of her fault Peeta slipped on the ice in her apartment complex parking lot; the least she could do was help him get his boots off. Yelling at him the minute he stepped out of his car for coming out in this crazy weather might not have been her best idea. 

She'd startled Peeta- he lost his balance and fell, twisting his knee so badly he couldn’t put pressure on it. Somehow she got him to his feet, although they barely made it inside the building without collapsing together. What a mess that would’ve been.

Why did he still make the trip to her apartment tonight in what was practically a blizzard? How was she supposed to know he hadn’t seen her approach? 

Speaking of which, ways to get back at Gale for putting her in this awkward situation in the first place kept running through her mind. He knew the weather would be crap today, yet still refused to cancel their plans to drive back to Panem together. Furthermore, Gale understood how uncomfortable Katniss would be spending that four-hour car ride with Peeta, knowing full well how she felt about him in high school. 

That rat bastard. 

Gale, not Peeta, that was.

Katniss bent over Peeta’s feet, avoiding his eyes as she untied his bootlaces, carefully so she wouldn’t unnecessarily jostle his knee. It was strange to be this close to him, even more than when she’d helped him get inside her apartment; they’d both had thick coats on, and that had acted as a decent barrier. They weren’t even touching, just her hands on his leather boot, but the contact still made her feel like running out the door to get away from him.

But where would she go if she gave in to that urge to flee? 

Straight into a snowbank once she got more than an inch past the driveway, that’s where. The weather wasn’t helping either- that endless wall of white outside the window made her feel trapped; restless with that apprehension Peeta stirred in her just being in the same room. 

“Thank you,” he said as she pulled the heel of his boot back, easing it the rest of the way off. 

She glanced at him, and their eyes connected in that funny way they always did in class, but this time he didn’t look away. 

Katniss broke eye contact first, setting his boot on the floor beside him. “It’s the least I can do after earlier- I hope you aren’t hurt too bad.”

“I’ll be alright; I think it’s just a strain; the joint gets stiff in this weather. I have arthritis in my knee already,” Peeta said, settling back against her couch as she stepped away from his side.

Of course, she remembered when he had knee surgery after getting injured during wrestling her junior year.

“Can I get you something?” Katniss asked. “I could make us some tea. I don’t have much in the way of food since I was going to Mom’s.” 

Prim would be disappointed that she wouldn’t be home tonight- she and Peeta were probably stuck here all day tomorrow as well. As strange as it might be, she realized she’d rather have someone here for Christmas than have to spend it alone, even if it was Peeta. 

“There’s stuff in the trunk of my car- puff pastry rolls and spinach dip. Probably shouldn’t have taken my shoes off yet,” Peeta added, leaning forward like he was going to try and get up.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Stay put; I’ll get it. Hand over your keys.” Katniss scolded him.

“I could go!” he said. “It’s just a sprain or something.”

“And where would I be if you fell again and hurt yourself worse? I don’t think so,” she tapped the inside of her hand. “Now, please.” 

Katniss waited to see if he would argue, but Peeta just good-naturedly laughed as he dug into the pocket of his jeans. “I know better than to argue,” he said, handing over the keys.

“Good boy,” she said. 

“I try to be.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


“This was a good idea,” Katniss said an hour or so later, stuffing another dip-laden cracker in her mouth. 

“I’m full of good ideas,” Peeta said, putting another piece of the Star Wars puzzle in place. 

The puzzle was supposed to have been a gift for his nephew. Once the power went out and her wifi with it, Peeta pulled it from the bottom of the bag she’d brought in that was holding the food, insisting they unwrap the box and work on it.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a puzzler,” she teased, subconsciously scooting closer to him. Somewhere around polishing off the last of the pastry rolls, Katniss relaxed, remembering why it was she’d liked Peeta so much in the first place. His presence was calming, his laugh cozy and self-deprecating. Katniss always had been a sucker for a guy who could make her laugh.

“Used to do them with my grandma. When we were too little to go to the bakery with Mom and Dad, Grandma watched my brothers and me at her house. While my brothers were off dicking around somewhere, I was right by her side. We’d sit on the porch and play stuff like dominos or parcheesi. Sometimes we’d put a puzzle together,” Peeta admitted, staring down at the piece of a picture of a Wookiee in his hand. “I didn’t feel like I got a lot of attention at home, but my grandma always did.”

Katniss put her hand on his arm- he seemed a little melancholy at the admission. “She sounds nice.”

“She was. I loved her a lot.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


“It’s getting cold in here, isn’t it?” Katniss asked as Peeta stifled a yawn. 

It’d been completely dark for hours now, and the power still wasn’t on. The completed puzzle lay on the coffee table, ready to go back in the box in the morning.

When the living room temperature began to dip towards being downright cold, Katniss layered up in extra socks, thermals, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt. Peeta didn’t have anything other than his coat to wear because he wouldn’t let her make another trip to his car. The wind had picked up even more- howling so loudly now it sounded like a roar. 

Peeta was under a blanket, but he still looked cold to her.

“Want to snuggle?” Katniss asked, jokingly- or at least that’s how she told herself it was supposed to sound. Peeta, however, didn’t seem to grasp that. 

“Absolutely,” he said eagerly, lifting a corner of the blanket and gesturing for her to slide underneath it next to him.

“Um-”

“What are you waiting for? Get in here already. I won’t bite.” Peeta said, grabbing her hand. “We have to conserve body heat- you can’t wake up frozen to death on Christmas.”

“Okay, it’s maybe fifty-eight in here. I don’t think we’re going to freeze to death.”

“You never know- better to be safe than sorry.”

Katniss sighed but acquiesced, inching close enough to Peeta that the tops of their thighs brushed. He took the edges of the blanket and tucked them in around the two of them, under her knees and elbows and shoulders. “Isn’t that better?” He asked.

“You remind me of my dad,” she told Peeta as he leaned back against the couch, “He would tuck Prim and me in bed just the same way on Christmas Eve. He said we had to be snug as two bugs in a rug or Santa wouldn’t come.”

“Did you ever try to escape?” Peeta asked.

“No,” Katniss said, shifting a little closer to him because his body heat was starting to warm her up. “I never questioned him- never really had a chance to. My mom got the brunt of that stage.” 

“I bet you still miss him,” he said softly.

“I do,” she admitted, mildly surprised that he remembered her dad had died ten years ago. “All the time, but especially at Christmas.”

They fell silent, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Something had shifted over the last few hours. Peeta took her hand in a comforting gesture, and she didn’t pull away.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


“Why wouldn’t you talk to me in high school?” Katniss asked, laying her head on his shoulder a while later. She’d gone from drowsy to downright tired and was fighting to keep her eyes open now. ”We could've been friends.”

”I ask myself that all the time,” Peeta admitted. He sounded barely awake himself. ”I was too intimidated by you.”

She laughed under her breath. ”But you're going to talk to me now, right? You can’t ignore me after this harrowing experience.”

”Yeah, that would be just plain rude.”

”Exactly, so you’d better call me sometimes.”

”I will,” Peeta said softly. “I hope the power’s back on in the morning.”

“Me too.” she agreed, “but I’m warm enough for now.”

“Good,” Peeta said, repeating her response from earlier in a tone that made her laugh sleepily. “Me too.”

“Good night,” Katniss said. “Happy early Christmas.”

“It already is,” he replied, squeezing her hand.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


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**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading- leave a comment if you're feeling it :).


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